PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Following a harrowing carjacking earlier this week involving two kids inside the vehicle, the children’s father is speaking out about the ordeal — with a warning to parents everywhere.
A woman, 33-year-old Portland resident Iosha Millage, is accused of committing Monday’s carjacking. In addition to two children being in the car at the time the vehicle was allegedly stolen, Millage also led law enforcement on a chase across state lines into Washington before finally being arrested.
Millage allegedly jumped into a running vehicle on North Interstate Avenue with two kids inside whose father was inside a building. The man saw the woman go into the running car as he was returning to it.
The two boys, ages 9 and 10, are now safe. But the father says leaving the car running while popping inside a building is a mistake he will never make again.
“I wasn’t fast enough to get her out of the car. You know, saw the car leave and thought I wasn’t going to see my boys anymore,” the father of the two kids, who wished to remain anonymous, told KOIN 6 News.
Though the danger is now in the rearview, the man said he was still shaken up from the incident. It all happened when he was on the way to pick up his daughter from preschool. Despite his best efforts to stop the woman — which police said included sustaining minor injuries to his hand — she ended up driving off with the two kids in the back seat.
“I don’t know where I would be without my kids right now,” he said.
The father flagged down police immediately after the carjacking. Meanwhile, the two boys managed to jump out of the stolen car near Northwest Glisan Street. and 15th Avenue just 10 minutes after the robbery. The children flagged down a driver who called 911.
The boys’ father said those 10 minutes seemed “like hours.”
Soon after the boys were found safe, the stolen car was spotted in North Portland by a Multnomah County Sheriff’s deputy.
A chase began onto I-5 North and into Washington state. Multiple agencies quickly caught the suspect and arrested her.
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“These type of incidents are all hands response for us. So no matter what your role is in the Police bureau, you stop what you’re doing anytime to go locate some kids that are missing,” said Portland Police Bureau Sgt. Matthew Jacobsen.
The father is now warning other parents about the dangers of leaving kids in the car.
“Don’t take the chance that I took. Even though it was outside of school, that doesn’t mean that things like this can’t happen that, you know, happens all the time.”
Millage has been booked into the Clark County Jail on several charges, including driving with a suspended or revoked license, attempt to elude, reckless driving and being a fugitive from justice. She is slated to be extradited by way of being transported to Multnomah County where additional charges may be filed, Portland police said.
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